Attack on Paradise review praises a fast Antwerp high-rise thriller
Variety says Saïd Boumazoughe’s Belgian action film brings style, humor and familiar siege-movie kicks to Fantasia.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The latest Attack on Paradise review from Variety finds a scrappy Belgian action movie with a very clear mission: send Saïd Boumazoughe fighting floor by floor through an Antwerp tower block while criminals and police close in.
Variety critic Dennis Harvey describes the film as a personal star vehicle for Boumazoughe, who receives a “created by” credit and co-wrote the screenplay with Sven Huybrechts and Salahdine Ibnou Kacemi. Bob Colaers directs the 99-minute Belgium-Netherlands production, which screened in the Fantasia Festival lineup and was reviewed online July 19, 2026.
Harvey says the movie draws on familiar siege-action DNA, citing echoes of Die Hard, Assault on Precinct 13 and High Rise. His verdict: the premise is hardly fresh, but the film’s speed, color and sense of fun help it punch above its recycled parts.
What is Attack on Paradise about?
Attack on Paradise follows Suleyman, played by Boumazoughe, after he leaves prison and returns to his sick mother, Fatma, played by Fatima Khanfour. According to Variety, Suleyman had been jailed seven years earlier after a confrontation with police officers in an unmarked car.
Back home, he discovers that the housing project where he grew up has become the headquarters of a crime boss known as Prince, played by Achmed Akkabi. Police move in for a major raid, while Prince’s crew is ready with cameras and heavy weapons, leaving Suleyman trapped in the chaos as he tries to reach his mother’s apartment.
Variety reports that Suleyman’s uneasy partner in the melee is Yasmine, a police officer played by Clara Cleymans. The enemies in his path include The Lion, played by Jamal Ben Saddik; Minza, played by Rudy Mukendi; Tchuko, played by Soroush Helali; and Nikita, played by Imanuelle Grives, a former romantic partner of Suleyman’s who now works inside Prince’s operation.
Why Variety says the action works
Harvey writes that the film keeps the pace high, with little time spent on backstory. He says the movie asks viewers to accept Suleyman as a near-unstoppable fighter, and credits Boumazoughe’s performance with making that easier to buy.
The review also highlights the movie’s offbeat touches, including remote-control doors, goats and a knife fight staged on a waterbed. Harvey says those details keep the action from turning into a flat parade of tough-guy set pieces.
On the craft side, Variety singles out Steven Vanvolsem’s bright, stylized cinematography, Brian Ent’s editing and the score by Maxim Lany and Jonas Nuttin. Harvey says the music shifts from ominous brass to electronic pulses and includes motifs tied to Suleyman’s Muslim faith.
The screenplay is described as the most conventional part of the package, and Harvey says the ending could have landed with more force. Even so, he concludes that Colaers’ second feature, after the horror comedy Trizombie, delivers enough momentum and personality to make the familiar formula play.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.